In this article, I will give you a glimpse of what you can see if you can attend on Friday and Saturday. For those that cannot come, this will provide some taste of what happens in Mount Vernon, Illinois in early September. Hopefully, you can come in 2024.
Every image you see below shows that vendors did not just bring one airplane to test the market. In every case, these companies brought two, three, or even four aircraft to show. That's very rare even at AirVenture or Sun 'n Fun.
What this illustrates is that the Midwest LSA Expo (about an hour's drive east of St. Louis) has become a standard bearer in the aviation calendar. Indeed, this is Midwest's 15th event, tying the longest-running prior such show, which was the Sebring Sport Aviation Expo. After beginning these LSA-focused shows, Sebring concluded its 15-year run in 2019.
Congratulations to Chris Collins and his entire team of orange-shirted volunteers!
Rob Rollison, the longtime importer of this very successful brand of modestly-priced LSA, has long maintained a very steady rate of business because his supplier overseas in Europe has maintained an prudent approach to business. This has helped that manufacturer remain very stable but it also means delivery times now reach about one year. Rob indicated most customers are willing to wait. It was good to see him back in Mt. Vernon with his handsome airplanes and new trailer.
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In some ways, the Texas company, which is directly associated with the Brazilian organization, is ahead of the game because Brazil's ANAC has already created a very Mosaic-like regulation with minor differences. Approving that aircraft in their home country should make for a much easier entry to the U.S. market and this Hondo, Texas organization is ready to roll.
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Joe Ord's Piston Aviation operates at Creve Coeur airport in the St. Louis area. They offer a wide range of flight instruction and list their prices right on their home page. You can tell by the nearby image that this company has a sense of style and they had handsome, custom-painted aircraft on display. Again you see the commitment people make to the Midwest LSA Expo if Piston will bring aircraft that could be in flight training to display for you at the show.
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While Vashon's prices have risen slightly over the last couple years – along with virtually everything else you buy — they are still affordable to a wide range of pilots and have particular appeal to some by virtue of their use of a Continental O-200 powerplant. Lots of pilots and mechanics are familiar with that engine and, combined with a new and spacious airframe, the company is finding customers. Clearly, they find some of them right here in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
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However, Trey is also nicely positioned for Mosaic with his other two aircraft that did not travel to Mt. Vernon. One is the tandem-seating Stream, which I flew with him after Sun 'n Fun 2022. That was a fine experience in a beautiful-flying aircraft. I look forward later this year to a flight in their side-by-side Mosaic-ready entry called Sparker that is the highest performing of their line. Of course, prices follow capability, so the Sirius or Sting may be the more affordable buy, but this company has got choices for you.
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The Mexico, Missouri based kit producer also hosts one of the largest events of its kind in the country, in fact, drawing even more people to it than the Midwest LSA Expo. Now in its 32nd year "Homecoming" is a must-go for any Zenith enthusiast. I've never been able to make it because it occurs right after the Midwest event but I hope many of you can and will attend. You can learn a lot at their event plus enjoy the camaraderie of others with similar interests.
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A couple years ago my wife and I each took a flight with Greg and had a marvelous experience. I'm not qualified to fly gyroplanes solo, but I have learned from some experiences and I see the magic that so many enjoy. Greg was one of the original people to fight for 10 years asking FAA to finally allow fully-built gyroplanes. They wore him out without saying yes, but when Roy Beisswenger and I started our advocacy work, we took up the case again. Between his efforts and ours, I'm pleased that we will finally have factory-built gyros available for those enthusiasts.
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One sure way to know if a show works is to observe vendor participation over a number of years. As this is my 14th year attending the Midwest LSA Expo, I can tell you 2023 represents a strong turnout. Companies come back year after year because it works to connect them with interested customers. Both sides end up with smiles. In this article, I will give you a glimpse of what you can see if you can attend on Friday and Saturday. For those that cannot come, this will provide some taste of what happens in Mount Vernon, Illinois in early September. Hopefully, you can come in 2024. Every image you see below shows that vendors did not just bring one airplane to test the market. In every case, these companies brought two, three, or even four aircraft to show. That’s very rare even at AirVenture or Sun ‘n Fun. What this illustrates is that the Midwest LSA Expo (about an hour’s drive east of St.
Fun flying in northern climates might begin to slow but in the southern half of the U.S., flying for fun is entering its best season.
As if to prove the point, coming up soon:
In Mount Vernon, Illinois, 2023 will be the 15th running of the Expo, and I have zero doubt it will happen again in 2024.
At that time the 
Activities include two full days of educational seminars and workshops, an aircraft show, contests, social activities, as well as a Zenith barbecue dinner on Friday evening plus a fried-chicken dinner with awards presentations on Saturday.
On September 15, educational seminars begin in the morning and take place throughout the day featuring various airframe, engine, and avionics seminars by suppliers such as Dynon and Garmin avionics, Corvair and Viking auto engine conversions, and more.
EAA Director Charlie Becker will speak about government issues affect sport aircraft owners and builders, including MOSAIC, task-based phase 1 flight testing, LODA, BasicMed and fuel issues. Representatives from the insurance industry (Avemco and Sky Smith Insurance) will be on hand.
This year Aero Showcase will broaden its focus from only Light-Sport Aircraft to include general aviation brands to offer a wider scope of aircraft and products.
"You can be sure to see new and existing brands on the market from several popular manufacturers and companies," stated Aero Affinity directors Alex Rolinski and Doma Andreka. "Come examine aircraft you have never seen up close during our event."
Aircraft already committed to display at Aero Showcase 2023 include: Tecnam models, Aventura II, Scalewings Mustang SW-51, Fusion 212, Montaer, Bushcat, JMB, Aerostar, BD5, Bristell Aircraft, Extra 300, Heron Engines and more.
See and enjoy aircraft demonstrations at a very sport-flying-friendly airport plus enjoy sky diving throughout the day. DeLand is one of the world capitals of sky diving and it is very active place yet one that meshes perfectly with airplane operations after decades of experience. Longtime airport manager John Eiff is very supportive.
"We will have aircraft for immediate purchase, so you can fly home after the show," said Aero Affinity. "Onsite financing approval, maintenance services, and pre-buy inspections are also available."
DeLand has not one but two good restaurants including one located directly adjacent to Aero Showcase. "We'll also have an ice-cream truck and refreshment options as well," added Aero Affinity.
"Rod bought Phil out in 2005 and continued the adventure at Jabiru," wrote Mick Halloran, now Executive Director of Jabiru. "After thirty-five years of inspiration and perspiration, Jabiru stands as Australia’s premier aircraft manufacturer, with one of the world’s best affordable touring aircraft and even more remarkably, one of the few light aero engines in continuous production. Rod built a team that has delivered (at the time of writing) 2,124 aircraft and 7,223 engines, has a customer list that spans the world and a complex international supply chain." Mick summarized, "It’s a global enterprise run from a couple of sheds in Bundaberg (Queensland, Australia, on the country's east coast)."
"Rod is responsible for the design of an original aircraft, an original engine, and has run an aircraft manufacturing company for 30+ years," Mick continued. "Any one of those, would in itself, be an incredible achievement. All three is quite extraordinary."
"Two months ago, I took over the business," he wrote. He reported previous roles in the "big corporate world," at companies such as British Aerospace and Lockheed Martin. He worked in the USA and Europe as well as Australia, "on everything from the original design of the Joint Strike Fighter."
"The last few years have left [Jabiru] with a mature design in the Gen4 engines and a timeless aircraft design with the J430/230/170 series." Scott Severen is working with Jabiru to prepare for Mosaic aircraft as the J430 has long been a four seat design in Australia.
"Jabiru is one of the great Australian success stories. My job is to eventually leave it better than I found it, which is no small challenge given what Rod and the team have achieved," concluded Mick. "I am looking forward to the challenge, but most of all I look forward to meeting all of the good people who are the buyers, flyers, and fixers of Jabiru."
You truly need to see these performances to believe what determined pilots in suitable aircraft can do. I encourage all to come on down to sunny Florida for Sun 'n Fun 2023 and check out the action in Paradise City (formerly the "Ultralight/Lightplane Area" and now badged as "
Like its counterpart at AirVenture in the Fun Fly Zone (also the former Ultralight Area), crowds can get close enough to see the STOL performances in great detail. Usually you have to arrive early enough to get a place at the fence. I've seen spectators 10-deep at both events.
Paradise City hosts Sun 'n Fun's "other" runway, a grass strip that's been steadily improved enough that the local 
Before 
Using his powerful Viking engines but also adding adding a super-special humongous landing gear arrangment to maximize rotation-for-takeoff performance Jan Eggenfellner created his Monster STOL.
As regular enthusiasts know, most of the top performers use taildraggers. Yet Zenith clearly does well with tricycle gear, even the regular version; the video below illustrates this.
Congratulations to Hamish Crowe for his first place finish at the 
Fellow Zenith pilot Daniel Wright finished in second place flying his blue and white Zenith STOL (registration JRM) with a takeoff roll of just 19.0 meters (62.3 feet) and landing roll of 30.7 meters (100.7 feet), for a combined distance of just 49.7 meters (163.1 feet). Both pilots can be seen performing in the short video below.
https://youtu.be/WKepnGvME1U
Tim and Helen Bridge are developing the ‘electric sky jeep,’ an all-electric 
"The Bridges' company plans to tap into ground-based networks of solar-powered energy grids in remote towns and villages," said Zenith, "so that the aircraft can fly between villages delivering vital medical staff and supplies without relying on outside fuel that needs to be flown in to the location."
Given its STOL (short takeoff and landing) capabilities, the manufacturer said, "Zenith's CH-750 is well suited for 'off-airport' operations, and can be flown in and out of shorter runways that may also be 'unimproved,' such as grass or dirt landing fields."
The Bridges founded their company, NUNCATS, in 2019. Now that the aircraft has been completed and flown they predicted, “As soon as funding allows, we hope to move towards getting this into communities where it can make a real difference. There are currently a billion people in the world with no access to healthcare.” The project is still seeking backers and sponsors to help fund its development.
For years this company has led the segment I've dubbed "Sport Pilot kits" — those kits that a builder can fly using Sport Pilot privileges. Lead by Sebastien Heintz, Zenith continues a long stride ahead of other worthy competitors.
Our 
While Van's RV-12 leads for a single model (47 registered so far in 2022), Zenith is the clear leader in this space. For 2022, the Mexico, Missouri-based manufacturer has already almost matched 2020 and 2021, and those were good years. Through nine months of 2022, Zenith has registered 73 aircraft putting the company on pace for 100 new aircraft for the calendar year. Zenith is followed by Rans at 48 and Van's at 47. Zenith is running 50% ahead of either and has maintained such a strong market position for years.
Mexico, Missouri's Hagan Brothers Field is a pastoral setting that is about perfect for airplanes such as Zenith produces.
"Great planes, fantastic people, and good weather," summarized Zenith! "What a wonderful two days at the 2022 Zenith Aircraft Homecoming / Open Hangar Days and Fly-In! Thank you to all who participated and helped to make this such a memorable event celebrating Zenith Aircraft's 
One man created his own special way to log some flight hours getting to Oshkosh. Evidently this adventurous pilot never heard another popular line: "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line." (Don't anyone challenge me with Great Circle routes; this is about a long flight but not a globe-spanning one.)
While pilots around the nation are in various stages of preparation for the flight to EAA's big summer celebration of flight, our aerial explorer is already en route. He's about halfway as this is posted.
That's still not enough for our Zenith aviator — but arriving KOSH will definitely be the icing on his cake, so to say.
Let's meet him.
Dave Tillema of Southeast Texas has embarked on an ambitious journey in an aircraft he built himself: his 
"I wish I could have tried this before everything got so expensive, but the stars didn't align," explained Dave. He's underway now, though. "This will be an all or nothing attempt: Oshkosh or Bust!"
However, he observed, "With costs skyrocketing into the absurd, I'm reaching out to fellow aviation enthusiasts. If y'all can help, I'd appreciate it very much." It was interesting to see comments on 
"I would definitely appreciate any hospitality, accommodations and/or fuel along the journey. My final stop each day will be determined by weather mostly, so planning for the trip is going to be day by day."
Dave's Zenith CH 750 Cruzer is powered by a Honda-based 130-horsepower powerplant from 
Dave said his Cruzer is "very inexpensive to fly and very quick to build. It's a great combination."
The Oshkosh 48-state flight is not the only effort Dave has given to share his love of flying with others. Before starting the Oshkosh flight, he'd flown 99 passengers in his Cruzer. He's logged nearly 800 hours in his airplane in less than three years.
One of the best ways to follow Dave 48-state adventure is on his 
This particular year, however, the company based in Mexico, Missouri celebrates its 30th anniversary. Beginning in 1992, Sebastien Heintz has paired popular designs with hard work to build his company to occupy the number one slot as seen in our 
Zenith's success benefits from decades of design work by Sebastien's father, Chris Heintz. The latter passed away in 2021 but had been honored many times for his numerous accomplishments in creating enjoyable, affordable aircraft. His sons are all involved in the aviation business. Any entrepreneur will admit that is quite unusual.
Along the way, Sebastien moved from Canada, where Mathieu still operates Zenair Ltd., in a cooperative arrangement with Sebastien's Zenith Aircraft. At his U.S. address, Sebastien has stuck to kits only while Zenair works with others to supply either fully built aircraft to residents of countries where that is permitted or to 
Host Workshops at the Factory and at Airshows
Zenith's top weekend is surely their well-attended 
Offer a Broad Line of Proven Models
On pleasant evenings, crowds can be five deep all along the runway fence. STOL comps provide exciting close-up action. At few other airports can you observe so closely, literally 100 feet away from runway centerline.
After the main afternoon airshow aerobatic acts conclude, you can do one of two things. You can go to the car park and wait in long lines to get out of the lot or you can make your way to the Ultralight Area / Lightplane Area / or Paradise City and catch the evening STOL comps. When they're done competing, the car parks are moving better and you'll waste less time sitting in line.
STOL comps were planned every evening of Sun 'n Fun but 20 mile per hour winds blowing 90° cross to the runway over a nearby line of tress was a bit much for many competitors. For two days, we've had limited flying in Paradise City.
Unfortunately Steve broke an axle and ended up on his nose in Wednesdays gusty conditions. Damage was reasonably minor — an advantage of landing so slowly perhaps — and he should be back in action soon.
His is not the only aircraft designed specifically to win STOL comps.
Monster STOL solves that problem, Jan believes. His dual aft shocks on each side have 18 inches of stroke. The tires aren't tundra but they're large. And standing Super Duty up on specialized landing gear — which also helps entry into this high-off-the-ground airplane — allows Jan to create a very steep angle of attack.
"I already get off the surface in 44 feet," said Jan in a video interview you'll see later. He wants to do even better and to further shorten his landings. The super beefy gear arrangement will let him plop the aircraft on the ground in the shortest possible distance.
"It's fun and a little whacky," said Sebastien Heintz of 
Our first quarterly report in many years should have come about April 1st. It did not. That date came as 
Digging deeper, the chart shows that longtime market leader 
Strong SP kit suppliers include 
Looking at cumulative registrations, Zenith/Zenair clearly holds the top spot among Sport Pilot kit aircraft sellers. Rans, 
Yet the real surprise comes when you look at our final chart of this article. Kits appear ascendant since 2013, especially when compared to Special LSA that seems to have found a stable registration rate of around 200 aircraft per year. However, when you combine SLSA with Experimental LSA, you can see that all LSA types number closer to 300 units per year, compared to all SP kits at just shy of 400. Specialty registrations like Experimental Exhibition are steady but at a far smaller unit count.
Any ELSA must be shipped from the factory as a bolt-for-bolt copy of the SLSA model, as required under the regulation. No producer can sell an ELSA without first getting approved for a SLSA, so to my mind, combining SLSA and ELSA makes for a fairer comparison to Sport Pilot kit aircraft.
If you love these numbers, please visit 
Seamax
Inside the tent, we did an interview with 
Sebastien Heintz of 
Deane's STOL CH 701 is powered by a 130-horsepower 
Because we are about 50 miles away, the sound of these (count 'em) 27 rocket motors traveled to Daytona in about four minutes. The rumbling from those huge motors throbbed on and on, longer than any launch I can remember. The winds need to be rather calm for the sound to travel this far and today we got lucky.
Cool! Go private space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others. I'm a NASA fan, too, but I want to see these private enterprises take the baton and race outward to the planets …and it's happening.
I just hope that Tesla can find a parking spot when it gets to Mars orbit.
https://youtu.be/RSc__x0rO9k
https://youtu.be/Tk338VXcb24
